Steggie's holiday

I've been north of the border here for 6 months now (wow, 6 months!), but apparently I still haven't finished moving to Canada. Or maybe I have, but my car hasn't (despite all these glamour-shots of her in Canada)...

I had really hoped to avoid importing my car to Canada, since it just seems like it has the potential to be a real hassle, not the least because I'm only going to be moving back to the US with my car in a few years. And, from information I found on the internet, it seemed like I wouldn't have to. Various places state that you don't have to import your car if you're going to be in the country for less than three years. Perfect! My postdoc position is for a maximum of three years.

The internet never lies, right?

Well, we won't argue that point. But it can misinform...

Because I have to import my car.

The interpretation I'm putting on it is that maybe the three year limit is a federal thing, but it's up to the discretion of the individual provinces. British Columbia is perhaps a zero tolerance province. Go figure.

The issue comes up because I need to register my car here. I was always intending to register my car here. And the fact is now imminent as my California registration expires in a month. And to register a car in BC, it is mandatory that that car be a BC car. Which requires that it be officially imported into Canada if it originated out of the country.

Fine. I'll import my car. Steggie will become a Canadian. (Canadienne?)

In order to import my car to Canada it must first be officially exported from the United States. I guess that makes sense. Symmetry, and all that. Based on all that I've read online, it seems like none of this will actually be too difficult. Expensive, but relatively straightforward. You email your car's title and bill of sale to the US border port that you'll be leaving from 3 days in advance. Then show up with your car and original documents. They let you through. Then you get to Canada, and show them all your documents. They'll make you pay a lot of taxes, and, if your car is on the list (not all US cars meet Canadian requirements) they'll give you the paperwork you need and send you on your way. Then you have to have provincial and federal inspections within a month and a half, fix anything that needs fixing (probably the crack in my windshield), get stickers to convert the odometer etc. into metric units, and finally register your car. Tedious, perhaps, but nothing really prohibitive.

So, I attempted to start this process on Friday and in so doing, learned a hidden little secret that really throws a wrench into the works. In the 3 days that US customs processes the export paperwork, the car is required to be present on US soil. If your car strays into Canada, you'll suffer administrative penalties (fines, I suppose, perhaps more delays) and possibly seizure of the vehicle. Fines I may be able to handle, depending on how punitive they are, but not seizure! So Steggie and I are taking a 4-day holiday to Washington this week!

It really irritated me that this information was really nowhere to be found on the internet. (Which has just been SO informative throughout this entire process...) That I had to have it sprung on me out of the blue. But, taking a step back, I suppose we aren't exactly the usual case. Probably most vehicles that are being imported from country A to country B don't start out in country B...

And it isn't all bad. It's actually kind of nice to be forced to return to Washington. I've been saying all along that being here in Victoria might turn me into a good granddaughter, since I'll be so much closer to my grandma in Tacoma and will be able to visit her more often. Yeah... You know how that turns out... So I'm really glad to have this opportunity to visit her! And I was just planning on reading a lot of journal articles at work this week, which I can do from anywhere, even the US.

So, hi-ho! Steggie and I will sing: "Over the river (strait) and through the woods (international border), to Grandmother's house we go!" with many a rousing chorus.